According to the BBC, Provincial civil defence chief Ali Akbar Akhavan said Iranian industry was constantly being targeted by 'enemy cyber attacks'.

He said that companies in Hormozgan province had recently been infiltrated, the semi-official Isna news agency reported.

He told a news conference that the Bandar Abbas electricity supply company has come under cyber attack, but they were able to prevent its expansion owing to our timely measures and the co-operation of skilled hackers.

According to the report, the Bandar Abbas plant, on Iran's southern coast in the Strait of Hormuz, is said to supply power to neighbouring provinces as well as Hormozgan.

In April, a malware attack on Iran's oil ministry and national oil company forced the government to disconnect key oil facilities, including the Kharg Island oil terminal that handles most of Tehran's exports, the report said.

The biggest cyber attack so far has been from the Stuxnet worm, believed to be the first known virus specifically targeted at infrastructure such as power stations.

In 2010, Iran accused the West of trying to disrupt its nuclear facilities with the Stuxnet worm.

According to the report, reports suggested that the worm had infected the personal computers of staff at Iran's first nuclear power station at Bushehr.

President Barack Obama has said the US will do 'what it must' to stop Iran acquiring nuclear weapons, the report added.